Honey Holes and Structure Hunting

I've got a few spots on my 200 acre farm which are good spots for hunting turkeys. You can be fairly sure that if you're there and you wait long enough, eventually a flock will come through. A lot of what you learn from bass fishing and deer hunting applies to turkeys: Find the roost. Find the food. Hunt the likely path between the two. I have had expert turkey hunters, men I respect, tell me that there is no such thing as a "Honey Hole" for turkeys. I have to disagree.

There are only going to be a few structures on the land that afford this opportunty.There are only going to be a few good spots which will afford you a chance to get a shot, and these are the spots I use. In some spots, I put up a camo blind in March. Some spots also get a boat cushion or two. I also have the factor of raising two sons into the sport. When they were young, having a blind where they could sit and fidget made it a lot easier. Both my sons had shooting opportunities on their first turkey hunts.

I have noticed something here on this forum that I had not sensed earlier. It is a regional difference between turkey hunters and turkey hunting. I did not pick up on it at first. I think I understand it better now. Most turkey hunters are raised up into the sport the way I was, learning to hunt flydown and then moving to make contact with a gobbler and then calling him in. I tried that the first few seasons when I moved all my turkey hunting to our farm in Kentucky. It wasn't successful-- not the way I had expected.

Kentucky positions its season at a time when turkeys are coming out of the Lull. In the northern extremity of the state, on the Ohio River, that puts it a tad early. We have also had a few really cold Aprils and May snowstorms in recent years-- that just heightens the effect. What started me thinking about this all was finding a poacher's blind made out of freshly cut cedar boughs on my property the first weekend I scouted the farm. I had never seen such an elaborate bower; it seemed like an extravagance for such a temporary set up. By the end of that first week, I bagged the nicest turkey of my career from that blind.

I'm not all THAT bad of a caller, but it's been years since I actually had a gobbler plop down off a limb and run over to my call. Last year, the gobblers never really warmed up until the afternoons. Instead, they get henned up in April and can seem to stay that way until nearly the end of season.

A few years ago, I changed my tactics. I now have places I know are good spots for seeing flocks on the move, loafing, dusting, feeding, etc. I get there ahead of time and wait. At the really good spots, I will put out a few amenities. Each spot has a limited life. The turkeys get wise pretty fast, but I have half a dozen or so of these places, and by rotating them around I can generate opportunities on a lot of days when there is nary a shot being heard at sun-up.